A New Kind of Threat
by Yume no Yume
Summary: Here's the life of Albus Severus Potter: boring, dull, and EXTREMELY ordinary. Or as ordinary as it's possible to be when attending Hogwarts. Albus thinks he needs some adventure. And he knows he won't have to go looking for it - it'll come look for him.
1. Chapter 1

I've had this idea going on for a while now... and I just had to put it onto paper. XD If you like it, tell me what you think. If you don't like it, mind telling me why? Any kind of review would be welcome – even if all you've got to say is that you hate it. :) It's good sometimes to have someone tell you that truthfully so that you don't get too full of yourself, ya know?

This will probably be gory... hence the rating of T. After all, this is me, Yume-ka, writing this, right?

Anyways, enjoy!

- Yume-ka

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. That would be J.K. Rowling, and you can tell because if it was me, then I would have put a lot more gore in there... A LOT.

**A New Kind of Threat -**

_**Chapter One**_

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Albus Severus Potter listened to his Charms teacher, Professor Flitwick, drone on about how to properly cast the Lumos spell.

_This is so boring,_ he thought. Yawning, he looked around the classroom.

Lyla Velrock was the only student that had mastered the Lumos spell in their year so far (at least as far as any of the rest of them knew – Albus had gotten bored one day, and had mastered it before they had even begun learning it. He had pretended not to know, however, since he didn't want the teacher's to begin expecting too much out of him). Currently, the girl was sitting quietly at her desk, listening, or rather, _pretending _to listen, to what Flitwick was saying. Albus knew a fake listener when he saw one, and Lyla was _definitely _faking it. He noticed that she glanced at him every so often, but gave no sign of it.

Currently, all of the girls in his year thought he was the hottest boy there, and all of the boys – except for Albus – thought that Lyla was the most awesome girl ever. Most of his year thought that he and Lyla were perfect for each other, but Albus wasn't really interested in romance like his other classmates were. To him, Lyla was just a friend. He was more interested in adventure, the kind of adventure that his dad, the famous wizard known as Harry Potter, had had back when he had gone here to Hogwarts.

While he was thinking of all of this, for no particular reason, Flitwick finished talking, and told them that their homework was to practice the spell until they could do it right. The bell rang, and as Albus walked out the classroom door, Lyla and his other friend, David Weasley, came up and walked beside him.

"That was so boring," Lyla muttered, yawning. She brushed a stray strand of her soft brown hair out of her eyes, but the effort was in vain. That piece of her hair would never obey Lyla's command.

"No joke," David agreed, nodding. He glanced at Albus for a response.

"Funny, I wasn't listening, so I don't know whether or not it was boring." Albus shrugged his shoulders, as if to say _it's no big deal_, and continued walking.

"What were you drawing this time, Al?" That was Lyla's nickname for him – Al. And ever since she started calling him that, most of the other girls had as well. Albus was thankful that the boys had refrained from doing so, however.

"Lyla, you know me too well – here, I was drawing this." Albus held up his notebook, on which a beautifully rendered drawing of Lyla herself was drawn. Lyla's eyes widened, and she blinked in surprise.

"Want it?" Albus carefully tore the page out of his notebook, and handed it to her. She took it gently, and stared at it for a moment.

"Thanks, Al – it's beautiful!" She said happily.

"Don't mention it – anyways, in our class, you're the only thing worth drawing, so I mind as well draw you to the best of my ability, right?" Lyla gave an uncertain smile at this, and carefully tucked the picture into her bag.

"What class do we have next?" Albus asked in a bored tone. "No, wait, let me guess – it's Potions, isn't it?"

"Yep," Lyla and David said in harmony.

"Professor Slughorn, here I come," Albus said, and hung his head in dejection.

"You really should give one of Slughorn's parties a chance, Al – they're not all that bad, you know," Lyla said tentatively. Albus glanced at her.

"It's not that I think that they're horrible or anything – after all, how bad could a party be? But I just don't particularly like the fact that he tries to get me to join his little "Slug Club", so to speak. I don't mind going to his parties, I just don't want to be a member." Allen shrugged his shoulders, sighing a bit.

"I see," Lyla said. She seemed a little disappointed, but Albus didn't really notice. He was too busy trying to maneuver through the crowd of students congregating in the halls.

"Hey, Albus!" came a feminine voice from somewhere in the crowd. A raven-haired girl with blue eyes hurried over to him. When she reached him, she suddenly bowed, and held out what looked like a letter. "Please accept this!" the girl said breathlessly.

Albus showed no sign of surprise, nor did he feel any – this kind of thing was always happening. He reached out and took the letter. The girl looked up hopefully, and Albus gave her a kind smile, and she smiled back.

"Thanks. I'll look at it during my next class – if I don't hurry though, I'll be late. You will be too, you know." Albus grinned at her, and turned away. He walked towards the dungeons, with Lyla and David in tow. When he reached Slughorn's classroom, he stopped, took a deep breath, and leaned against the door; he put his index finger and thumb on the bridge of his nose, and slowly exhaled.

"Something up, Al?" Lyla looked at him with mild concern. He glanced up at her, gave a deep sigh, and held up the letter he still held in his hand.

"This is the third love letter I've gotten _today alone_ – the girls are going insane, giggling hysterically when I walk past and following me around in little groups of about seven or eight, or so. If this continues, I think I'm going to go insane as well." Albus turned his face up towards the ceiling. Closing his eyes, he heaved a deep sigh once again.

"I guess it isn't easy being so popular with females, is it? The boys tend to avoid me, and I rarely ever get a love letter – they're much too shy, or at least most of them are," Lyla said, trying to be sympathetic.

"I'm just glad you haven't started doing anything like that, Lyla – as long as you continue to be normal, I can deal with all of it." Albus looked at Lyla with a straight-face. There wasn't any sign of embarrassment or nervousness to indicate that he was implying he liked her. That wasn't how he meant the statement to come across at all. He was just thanking her for being normal and level-headed in his life where most people weren't. Lyla knew this already. She had known Albus many years, even before they had both gone to Hogwarts. But still, she couldn't help the slight coloring of her cheeks. It was both the result of liking Albus, and appreciating the obvious compliment he had given her.

David looked at the both of them, and cocked his head. Deciding that now would be a good time to break the silence before it became too awkward, he looked around for something to comment on. He couldn't find anything, but luckily, he ended up not having to; the other students had begun filing in, and several seconds later, Slughorn opened the door dramatically.

Albus would have fallen at that point, but somehow he managed to stand up at the precise moment before the door was flung open. He glanced with mild surprise at Slughorn standing where he had just been, as if he hadn't known that Slughorn was about to open it. Which he hadn't, but nobody other than Lyla, David, or his family would have believed that he had just _happened _to stand up at exactly the right moment.

Albus was known for his extraordinary luck – of course, he was only known for it among his friends and family, since he didn't feel like bragging about something as stupid as good luck. As far as he was concerned, there really was no such thing – when asked what it was, he would just shrug, and say, "Coincidence" and turn away.

But, his luck apparently didn't work when it came to avoiding one of Slughorn's massive hugs – he had learned that the hard way. And he had quickly learned to out-maneuver the man. He used his born Quidditch skills to duck under Slughorn's massive embrace, and come out the other side. It was a miracle, at least to Albus, that Slughorn was apparently too stupid to predict him doing so. Which he did every time Slughorn tried to hug him, and that was pretty much _all _the time.

Albus had learned a long time ago that when it came to avoiding teachers, the middle space was the best spot to be. For some reason, they just didn't seem to notice people there as much as they did from the back or front row. Walking into the classroom, he sat down at a random desk towards the center, in the hopes of avoiding his teacher. He saved the two spots on either side of him for Lyla and David (much to the disappointment of the other girls).

"Well, here we go again," Lyla said as she sat down. They all began taking out their things and getting ready for class.

* * *

Yume-ka: And the first chapter is complete!

Yume: Um, do you think that you could allow me to update my story, then?

Yume-ka: No. I think I'm onto something here.

Yume: *sighs* Well, I know better than to argue with you verbally.

Yume-ka: ...

Yume: Which means we'll have to settle this with a thumb-war, won't we?

Yume-ka: You'll never win. I won't let you.

Yume: Say that after you beat me, ya twit.

Yume-ka & Yume: *in unison* Beginning: Round One

*Five or so minutes later...*

Yume-ka: Yay! I win!

Yume: Dammit... *looks hopefully at Yume-ka* Best two out of three?

Yume-ka: No way in hell! I ain't riskin' my hard won prize!

Yume: What are you? A chicken?

Yume-ka: ... Cluck, cluck, cluck *flaps arms like they're wings*

Yume: *bangs head against wall and knocks herself out*

Yume-ka: There you have it folks – while I tie up my buddy here, and lock her up to boot, you guys can wait patiently for my next update. Cheers! *leaves room, dragging Yume behind her*

_**Yume no Yume wants a review - please press the button below. It will help make the updates come so much faster. =D**_


	2. Chapter 2

Yume-ka here – I like writing this story. Yume currently isn't here (being still unconscious, not to mention tied and locked up), so I'll be updating this story until she wakes up.

Enjoy!

**A New Kind of Threat**

Chapter 2

"Hey Albus... did you ever answer that girl's love request?" Lyla looked at her friend with mild curiosity.

"Yeah... she wasn't too happy with the answer, either..." Albus sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "I told her I wasn't interested, and said, 'I never really thought of you that way', and she looked so utterly depressed that I was worried for a moment that she would start crying. Then her friends, who were with her, told her 'Don't give up, Aya – you still have a chance to get him some other time!', and since I didn't say anything to that, she seemed to feel a bit better."

"Aya – that was her name? Hmm, that's definitely unique. But even though she looked like she'd cry, you did the right thing – and that's probably the best rejection I've ever heard. It was very gentle." Lyla smiled at Albus. He gave an uncertain smile back, and shrugged his shoulders.

"I wasn't trying to be gentle, actually. I was actually being kind of blunt," Albus replied, looking away from her as they walked down the hall after Potions class.

"Well... maybe being blunt in this kind of situation is the most gentle way of dealing with it – just getting it out there and letting them know the truth."

"Maybe... Hey, where's David?" Albus looked around, and tilted his head to the side.

"Wasn't he with us just a second ago?" Lyla looked around as well. Then they heard a voice call from behind them.

"Albus! Lyla! Wait up!" David came running towards them, and fell into step beside them.

"What were you doing?" Albus asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend as his tried to catch his breath. Then he noticed a letter in the boy's hand, and had an immediate suspicion as to what it was. Unfortunately, his suspicions were confirmed by what David said next.

"That girl who gave you a letter earlier just gave me one," he said proudly, like he had somehow won some great contest or prize.

Albus and Lyla glanced at each other knowingly, and made a silent agreement not to say anything. David was humming a little tune, and he began walking a bit quicker.

"I'm going to hurry to the common room," he said, before running off.

Albus looked at Lyla. Lyla stared back. As one, they shook their heads, watching the their friend run down the hall, and said in unison, "He's doomed."

"The girl probably decided that since she couldn't get me, David was the next best thing. The poor guy – he thinks he's all popular now, probably," Albus said. He sighed. "I'd feel responsible for it if it weren't for the fact that I didn't really have anything to do with it directly. Indirectly, yes, but it's basically the girl's fault for doing this, and David's fault for believing it."

Lyla didn't answer for a bit. Instead, she stared at Albus, studying him. Finally, she replied, "You have a very simple, very blunt, and somehow somewhat cruel and twisted outlook on the world, Albus."

Albus showed no surprise or offense at this accusation – after all, it was true. All he said was, "Sometimes that's the kind of outlook on life that you need to see it clearly."

"I suppose you're right," Lyla admitted. "It just sounds so pessimistic to me."

"I'm no pessimist, you and I both know that." Albus raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. "I'm a realist, neither optimistic nor pessimistic – I prefer to see things as they are."

"Then again, both optimists and pessimists have their uses in the world. Optimists are great for when you need someone to lighten up the mood. And pessimists are great for when you want to borrow money." Albus did his best to keep a straight face.

"Hm? Why's that?" Lyla tilted her head to the side inquiringly.

"Because – they will never expect it back."

Lyla laughed, and Albus grinned in triumph. He always felt triumphant when he managed to make Lyla laugh – maybe it was because she was always a source of laughter and optimism for him, and he liked returning the favor. Then again, maybe it was just because Lyla was a tough person to get to laugh wholeheartedly, so when Albus did manage to make her do so – like now – it was a small little victory for him.

"What class do we have after break?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts – you would think that you would have memorized that part of our schedule by now, Albus. After all, your dad - "

"Don't." Albus gave her a look, and she immediately stopped. Pinching the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb, he bowed his head for a moment. Then he raised it again, letting his hand fall back to his side. He lifted his face up towards the ceiling, and looked at Lyla sideways.

"You and I both know my bad habit with these kinds of things," he said quietly. "If there's one thing worse than Potions, it's Defense – it's got nothing to do with my dad, either."

"What is it then?" Lyla asked. She did indeed know of Albus's bad habit – he had a tendency to forget things he didn't like. Like if he didn't like a person, or a certain class, he would forget the person's name, or forget when they had that certain class. It was unfortunately very effective, too. "What do you hate so much about Defense Against the Dark Arts? You're so good at it!"

"That's exactly it! Because I'm so good at it, everyone expects me to become some sort of Ministry official, like an Auror or something, or even a Curse-Breaker, Hit Wizard – which I am definitely _not _doing – and even a doctor at St. Mungo's! I'm just glad that my dad isn't saying the same stuff."

"Wow... that sounds... rough. What is your dad saying exactly?"

"He basically just said it once and left it at that. He said, 'Whatever kind of job you want, so long as it's legal, and so long as your mother can handle whatever kind of danger I know you'll be attracted to, I don't care what kind of job you get – I'll support you all the way, Albus.' I was really happy when he said that too – my dad rules."

"No doubt about that – you're dad is the most popular professor that this school has ever had, as far as anyone can remember. I can see why, too."

Both Lyla and Albus had reached the Fat Lady Portrait that led into the Gryffindor common room. The Fat Lady was looking at them expectantly.

"Piscus," Albus said, and the Fat Lady nodded and the portrait swung open. They walked in, and were greeted with the sight of nearly everyone in the common room crowded around the bulletin board, and whispering in either confusion, or excitement, Albus couldn't tell which. It might have been a little of both. Either way, Albus wanted to know what the big deal was.

He walked over and noticed Kyla, a friend of his, standing off to the side a bit. "What's going on?" he asked her.

"...Go on and see for yourself. I'll tell you this, though; it's about you." Kyla turned away from me, leaving me confused. I shook my head. Kyla was like that; mysterious, and often cryptic in her comments. I shrugged it off and turned towards the notice on the bulletin board.

The crowd parted before me, most looking at me with great respect; since hardly anyone usually looks at me like that, it unnerved me a bit. Normally, people just looked at me with stars in their eyes (boys and girls all included). I just didn't get it – until I read the notice.

_Dear Albus Potter_

_It has come to my attention that you are an exceptionally good Quidditch player – you play seeker, do you not? I have seen some of your skills, and I would like to make you an offer._

_My offer is this: would you like to become a seeker for the "_Falmouth Falcons_"? If so, then please contact me by owl with an acceptance letter, and any requests that you may have. You do not need to worry about your games interfering with school; I have already talked to your headmistress, and she has agreed to exempt you from all homework you might have while you're gone, though you will have to ask someone to take notes for you for all of your classes until you return._

_Please have your letter sent in time so that I might receive it by the end of next week on Oct. 2nd, which is a Friday._

_I eagerly await your answer,_

_Yours sincerely,_

_Falgorth Palee_

_Captain of _Falmouth Falcons

Albus stared, dumbfounded. He read the notice three times before he finally decided that it was not a prank. If it wasn't a prank, that could only mean that...

"It's real," Lyla said, blinking and staring in shock beside him. After a few seconds, she suddenly smiled, and turned to Albus. "You should accept this – it's really a chance of a lifetime, to be able to do something like this at your age... If you don't accept this, I'm going to be mad," she added as an afterthought.

Albus sweatdropped, and quickly nodded in agreement. He had already thought that it would be awesome to accept this, and so even if Lyla hadn't tried to force him, he would have done it.

Lyla nodded. "Good."

Albus shook his head, and grinned slightly. Lyla always managed to make him feel better. He didn't know how, but she just did. It was usually really great to have her around – although she could be a little annoying at times. But then, so could everyone. It was sort of a rule that humans got on each others nerves.

_I guess that's just one more thing about my life that's too troublesome to comment much on. Not that I mind, _Albus thought.

Together, he and Lyla walked up to their respective dormitories, and prepared for bed. It had been a long day.

-----

Yume-ka: *is annoyed* I want to say sorry about this taking so long. I'm currently in Hawaii, and having a bad time with the internet. It sucks.

Yume: Not to mention the writer's block you and I are both currently in, Yume-ka. That's what's annoying you the most, isn't it?

Yume-ka: No shit, Sherlock. How long did it take you to figure that one out?

Yume: ...

Yume-ka: Yeah, well anyway, next week I'll be updating Ioth (Innocence of the Heart), so expect it peoples! I think I'm going to go by week instead of every other day – when I wrote that earlier, I was forgetting that I had a life of my own, much as I try to ignore it.

Yume: Yeah, and when you ignore it, I tend to get in trouble.

Yume-ka: Must suck to be you. Anywho, we'll see ya next chapter. Ta-ta!

Yume: ... See ya.

Yume-ka: *sweatdrops* ... *shakes head* Whatever. I don't wanna know.


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